Rapson, Hall and Apley win Bad Axe council seats

Published 10:48 am, Monday, April 25, 2016

BAD AXE  The City of Bad Axe will have a new mayor, two new faces on the city council and appoint a third when the new session of the board begins in January.

Three council seats were up for grabs in Tuesday's elections as the terms of Tammy Deboer, Bud Yageman and Curt Apley are set to expire at the end of the year. Deboer and Yageman chose not to seek re-election, while Apley again campaigned for his seat. He was joined in the race by current mayor Bill Cleland and challengers Jim Hall and Dave Rapson.

City Clerk Kay Goebel said 401 ballots were cast out of the 2,190 registered voters in the city, for a turnout of about 18 percent. Goebel said the turnout was relatively low, even for an off-year election.

Cleland's decision to run for a council seat instead of mayor opened the door for Herb Williams to leave his council seat and run for mayor. Williams was the only name on the ballot, and garnered 87 percent of the vote (350 votes) to cruise to a rather anti-climactic victory.

Williams said he's anxious to get started in his new role and to continue moving the city forward.

"We have to finish the water plant and get that online, and hopefully get some communication with the people in the community as far as what it's going to cost," he said Tuesday night. "Of course, the sewage plant is something we have to do and we're moving on that. We qualified for a loan from the state revolving fund at a very low interest rate, but we were hoping to get grants."

Williams said he also hopes council will have a renewed focus on creating more job opportunities in Bad Axe.

"I hope we can get something together to get some industry to come in here and provide jobs," he said. "When you graduate from high school in Bad Axe right now, where are you going to work? It's a tough situation. Those are the things we need to try to work on, and hopefully we can put together a package to bring some more industry to town."

Williams said he hopes council can continue to move the city forward and "serve the community well."

The only contested race this year was for the three council seats, as Apley, Cleland, Hall and Rapson competed to fill those spots.

Newcomers Rapson and Hall, 79 percent and 75 percent of the vote, respectively, and incumbent Apley, 62 percent, were chosen by voters to fill the seats. Rapson received 315 votes, Hall 299, Apley 249 and Cleland received 47 percent of the vote with 188 ballots cast in his name.

Rapson thanked voters for their support, and said he was ready to get himself up to speed and begin work with the council in January.

"I'm excited. I really appreciate the support, and I hope I can do a good job for the community," he said. "I'd like to see if I can contribute. It's interesting because it's my hometown."

Besides the water and wastewater treatment projects, Rapson said he also would be focused on job growth and public safety.

"Our police and fire services are super, and I want to make sure we keep them that way," he said. "And keeping jobs in town is important so we can have people and businesses that want to be here."

Hall said he brings his "adding machine and pencil" to the board, understating a bit his experience with budgets and finance.

"The budgeting process is extremely important with any municipality. It's a planning tool, and as far as being able to look at the budget and lend some expertise in that aspect, I think I'll be able to help in that area," he said. "I'm ready to go and see if we can continue with the progress of the City of Bad Axe, and I'm looking forward to working with council and new guys."

Hall said he also would be focused on bringing new employment opportunities to the city, and pointed to municipalities like Brown City and Deckerville as examples of rural communities that have been able to maintain an industrial base.

"Somehow or another they're attracting businesses in there," he said. "You look at the jobs that were here and the factories that have closed in the industrial center and there's got to be a way to get some jobs in there."

Apley was elected to his third consecutive term on the city council, and said he wanted to come back to the board to see some projects through to the end.

"I wanted to see the water treatment plant get done, and we've really got to get at the wastewater treatment plant," he said. "That's the main thing right now. The water project should be done (by the beginning of the new term), but we've got to get the wastewater treatment plant going so we've got it done when we really need it."

Apley said while he thinks his experience will be beneficial to the council, he also feels like new ideas coming from new council members will be helpful as the city moves forward.

"I think we'll do fine. We've got some new guys coming on that will be good additions to it," he said. "New ideas are really good. Everybody thinks a certain way, and everybody thinks differently, so it's nice to get the new ideas added to it."

Because Williams' seat was not up for re-election this year he will be vacating it in January to take over as mayor. Council will have to appoint someone to that seat to finish out the term once the new session begins next year.

Cleland will serve out his current term as mayor and hasn't yet decided if he'll throw his name in the mix to be appointed to Williams' seat. Cleland said he wished to step back from the responsibilities of being mayor, but ran for the council seat because he didn't want it to seem like he was running away from the board.

"I'll obviously miss being involved with the city, but I have no hard feelings and no regrets," he said. "A lot of good things happened over the past 10 or 12 years, and I've been happy to be a part of that."

Cleland said if he's approached about filling the vacancy that will occur in January he'll give it some thought, but he didn't want to campaign for the spot.

"It would be a nice opportunity, but if they have somebody else in mind that's fine," he said. "I don't wish to put anybody in a bad spot. We'll let the powers that be decide that."

Cleland said he's disappointed to lose the election, but excited to have more time to spend with his family, especially a new grandchild in Maine.

"I didn't campaign, I didn't drum up a lot of support, I just threw it out there, and if people wanted me, that was fine," Cleland said. "The residents did for me what I couldn't do for myself. They gave me the opportunity to walk away from it."